Bend it like Isabelle

The weather was beautiful in Seattle this weekend, which was a real treat because we haven't had too many nice days as of late. Friday night Isabelle's soccer team had a great practice in 70 degree weather, and I actually got to take one of the dogs to practice so he could hang out with us. Saturday we had a wonderful day of playing outside with the kids, and a great dinner on the deck that evening.

Sunday, of course, was Isabelle's soccer game. Her team is doing outstanding this year, and Isabelle has been a true all-star, if I do say so myself. Her skills are tremendous and her coach (and Dad) is very happy. Not too bad for a girl that we thought wouldn't be playing soccer about a year ago. At any rate, we played under gorgeous weather this afternoon and the girls had an awesome game. We ended up winning 13-2, and Isabelle scored THREE goals! To top it all off, one of them was a left-foot shot, which had been one of her goals to accomplish this year. We were so proud of our girl! To this point in the season (6 games) she's had 8 goals. We still have two more to go, so hopefully the hot streak continues.

Here she is gearing up for a big left foot shot. She's the only girl on the team that can switch from one foot to the other with complete confidence.

Here she is throwing up the "L" sign. No, it's not for loser, but her sign for "left-foot goal."

Here's the third goal headed for the net.

Again with the "L" sign for the left-foot goal. She was so proud!

Running through the victory tunnel at the end.

GO MONSTERS! No game next weekend due to Memorial Day, but we play the two weekends after that to finish off the season.

Hope everyone else had as wonderful of a weekend as we did!

Mother's Day weekend

This weekend we were blessed with gorgeous weather, which hasn't been a regular event these days. And no better weekend for it, as we were able to get out and celebrate Mother's Day with great family activities. Saturday we started out with Sophia's soccer class, and then headed out to the zoo to explore the new penguin exhibit. The kids had a blast, and all caught a quick nap on the drive home. That evening we had our dear friends the Cappalongas over for dinner. Tia is one of the best mothers I know, and a great person to celebrate the weekend with. She has five wonderful kids that are all amazing in their own individual ways. She is really one in a million...oh, and just an awesome person to be around. :) At any rate, the kids all wore each other out playing until late that night, but did sleep in the next morning, so we couldn't complain.

The next day Todd cooked omelets for everyone and then got all our bicycles prepped for a family bike ride while the little ones were napping. After they awoke, we headed off for a ride along the Cedar River. The weather was still good, though a little overcast, but not too hot or cold so we couldn't complain.

Todd and Isabelle off and going. The hilly path that Isabelle is riding towards is the one she crashed down at the end of our ride. No better way to finish off Mother's Day than scrubbing gravel and dirt out of your kid's knees in the tub with a loafa. Good times.

Isabelle cranked along with us the entire ride, which probably consisted of about 3 miles. She's awesome on her bike, and really enjoyed us all being out together.

A nice view of the Cedar River.


Sophia and Hudson ride along in their bike trailer behind Todd. They love looking out the windows and generally grappling with each other in the tight quarters.

Little faces peeking out at me as I ride by them. Too cute!

I hope all the mothers I know had a wonderful weekend like I did. I feel truly blessed to have three wonderful children that are happy and healthy, and that give me the title of "Mom."